


A Supernatural Love Story

by heronblue



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Essays, Evaluation, M/M, Story Grid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 17:06:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17687465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heronblue/pseuds/heronblue
Summary: HYPOTHESIS: The progression of the relationship between Dean Winchester and Castiel in (primarily) season 4 of Supernatural meets the criteria for the love story genre by including the conventions and obligatory scenes as defined by Shawn Coyne’s story grid method of evaluation.





	A Supernatural Love Story

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been listening to the Story Grid podcast for a couple weeks now and Shawn Coyne is always touting that you should analyze your favorite works of fiction to practice identifying obligatory scenes and conventions. Recently, while rewatching season 4 of Supernatural (because I mean, why the hell not...) I was intrigued to notice that Dean and Castiel’s relationship seemed to tick all the boxes of a love story subplot. So, I thought I’d break that down as my first analysis since I was thinking about including a platonic love story subplot for my own characters.
> 
> Conventions:  
> https://stevenpressfield.com/2017/02/15440/
> 
> Obligatory Scenes:  
> https://stevenpressfield.com/2017/01/love-story-cheat-sheetobligatory-scenes/

  


**HYPOTHESIS**

The progression of the relationship between Dean Winchester and Castiel in (primarily) season 4 of Supernatural meets the criteria for the love story genre by including the conventions and obligatory scenes as defined by Shawn Coyne’s story grid method of evaluation.

Castiel would qualify as the protagonist of the love story subplot since he's the one that changes the most during the course of the season. Therefore, this evaluation will be from the point of view of Castiel's character.

  


**OBLIGATORY SCENES**

**1\. The Lovers Meet**

This is the easiest scene to identify and probably one of the most iconic scenes in the entire series. Dean is trying to figure out who or what rescued him from hell (4.01) and what that person or thing wants from him. Most of his efforts in the season 4 premiere have not gotten him far until he and Bobby attempt to summon the thing in the barn, warded up the ass against whatever it might be. Unfortunately, they can’t account for the nature of the being because they’ve never encountered one before.

Enter, the angel Castiel, dramatically. It’s not just a big moment for Dean, it’s also a big moment for the show. Castiel could just pop in, presumably, as he does in the rest of the season, silently and abruptly appearing out of thin air, but he doesn’t. He rattles the entire barn, violently shaking the boards and shorting out the electrical work. Both Dean and the viewers know that something big, something powerful, is about to enter, and enter he does. Sparks literally fly.

From a storytelling point of view, having Castiel enter this way makes sense. The writers want to make sure the audience knows that he is incredibly important. From this point on, both Dean and the world of the show are about to be irrevocably changed. Perhaps also, from the angel’s point of view, he wants to make a more lasting impression this time since Dean doesn’t seem to recall when Castiel pulled him from the pit. 

  


**2\. The Confession of Love**

This one is subtle, but it’s there. At first, it’s hinted at by Uriel when he appears to Dean in a dream (4.10). When Dean asks where “his boss” is, Uriel answers, “Castiel? Oh, he, uh... He's not here. See, he has this weakness. He likes you.”

Several episodes later (4.16), Dean notices that instead of Uriel answering to Castiel, the opposite happens and Castiel has to back down from Uriel. When Dean asks to speak to Castiel alone, the angel admits that his superiors are concerned about his judgement. Castiel pointedly says to Dean, “I was getting too close to the humans in my charge. You.” This is important because although Castiel has expressed affection for humans before (4.07) as God’s creations, as “works of art,” he is specifically referring to Dean here.

Castiel’s confession to Dean that he was getting too close to him falls right about in the middle of the season, which would be considered the center of the middle build of the story, right where it should be.

Now, is this an outright confession of love? No. However, it’s significance can’t be overlooked. Castiel has existed for eons (presumably) as a servant of God and heaven, but his feelings for humanity, specifically Dean, are now suddenly a problem.

  


**3\. The First Kiss / Intimate Connection**

This is the hardest moment to pinpoint in their relationship because nothing so obvious as an actual kiss happens between Dean and Castiel. Love stories don’t necessarily have to have a kiss though, and can fulfill this obligatory scene with something that would be considered an intimate connection.

They already share a rather obvious intimate connection that joined them in the first place. Castiel was the one who was able to lay a hand on Dean and pull him from hell, and Dean has the burn mark to prove it. Dean doesn’t recall this happening however. It’s also their very first interaction and isn’t brought on by affection so much as duty on Castiel’s part because he wasn’t the only angel tasked with rescuing Dean Winchester, he was just the first one to reach him. It could be argued that this was the catalyst for their entire relationship though, so while it isn’t the “first kiss” moment, it could definitely be the inciting incident.

It’s more likely that their first intimate connection isn’t something grand, and given the world they live in and the things they do, it’s actually quite a painful moment.

At the end of the episode where Castiel tells Dean he was being tested and that the angels’ orders were to follow his orders (4.07), Castiel and Dean sit on a couple of park benches, talking, and Castiel says, “Can I tell you something if you promise not to tell another soul?” When Dean says “Okay” Castiel continues with, “I’m not a… hammer as you say. I have questions, I have doubts. I don’t know what is right and what is wrong anymore, whether you passed or failed here.”

This is the first conversation he has with Dean where Castiel isn’t acting the part of the good little soldier. He confides in him something that probably goes against his very nature as an angel because what happens when angels question God? They get cast out, like Lucifer.

What exactly did it cost Castiel to admit something like that to Dean? How much more intimate can you get with someone than confiding your deepest, darkest secrets to them?

  


**4\. The Lovers Break Up**

As the story closes in on the final episodes, Castiel appears to Dean in a dream and tells him they need to talk secretly in the real world (4.20). When Sam and Dean go to meet him, they find Jimmy Novak, Castiel’s vessel, and evidence that some epic angel fight must have happened. With Jimmy as the only clue, they try to protect him and wait for him to remember what the angel wanted to tell Dean, or for Castiel to return somehow. At the end of the episode, when Castiel takes Jimmy back as his vessel, Dean asks what he wanted to tell him. Castiel answers coldly, “I learned my lesson while I was away, Dean. I serve heaven, I don't serve man, and I certainly don't serve you.”

The Winchesters, as well as the viewers, are left to assume that Castiel must have been taken back to heaven against his will and has spent that time being “reeducated” about his loyalty to heaven. Dean’s words to Castiel in the next episode (4.21) tell us that he knows this is what happened. “You got ass-reamed in heaven but it was not of import?”

This is further emphasized in the same episode (4.21) when he basically blackmails Dean into pledging his obedience to God and the angels in exchange for an ambiguous promise to spare Sam. Castiel then turns around and secretly releases Sam from Bobby’s panic room (where he was detoxing from demon blood) so he can go do the exact thing that Castiel just implied he would be spared from. Then, in a small scene that adds insult to injury, he calls Anna, one of the only people who has been pushing him to side with Dean and humanity, and hands her over to the angels.

So, not only do Castiel and Dean “break up,” there is active and calculated betrayal on Castiel’s part, even if Dean isn’t aware of it all. Castiel attempts to sever his relationship with Dean and reinforce his relationship with heaven.

  


**5\. The Proof of Love**

In the season finale (4.22), Dean is suddenly whisked away to the angel green room where he’s to be kept safe. Eventually, Zachariah reveals to him that they never wanted him to stop the apocalypse, only to eventually end it by killing Lucifer once he’s out.

Dean and Castiel have several exchanges while Dean is in the green room. The very first exchange is no more than a look. Zachariah reminds Dean that he swore to obey and when Dean looks to Castiel, he looks down guiltily. In the second exchange, Dean tries to convince Castiel to let him see Sam but the angel repeated refuses him. The third exchange, Dean is becoming desperate. He’s worried about Sam, he’s worried about all the people who will die if the apocalypse happens and he’s angry at the callous views and actions of the angels. 

Eventually, Dean demands to know, “Why are you here, Cas?” It’s a good question, because really, there’s no reason for him to be there. Dean is trapped in that room and isn’t going anywhere. So, why is Castiel there? Probably because, as we saw in that first exchanged glance, he feels guilty. Heaven may have sent him “back to bible camp” but he still has strong feelings about Dean. 

The third exchange ends with Dean basically begging Castiel to rebel against heaven, for him, for Sam, for all of humanity. He tries to appeal to Castiel’s morals (something we’re not quite sure angels even have at this point) instead of falling back on the I-was-just-following-orders defense. “This is simple, Cas! No more crap about being a good soldier. There is a right and there is a wrong here, and you know it.” And he does seem to know it or at least is sympathetic to it, but he’s not willing to act on it and his wishy-washy attitude causes Dean to dismiss him, so he leaves.

This all leads up to the proof of love because Castiel needs to make the best bad choice here. Does he reject Dean and his convictions and choose loyalty to heaven? Or does he rebel against everything he’s known his entire existence for this one human because it’s the right thing to do? Ultimately, he chooses the latter. Castiel springs Dean from the green room, blasts away Zachariah with a banishing sigil, takes Dean to the only person who would know where Sam is (Chuck), and when an archangel descends on them, he stays to fight it off so Dean can save his brother and stop the apocalypse. The result? Castiel is obliterated.

This is a quintessential proof of love scene. Castiel has nothing to gain and everything to lose. It’s the core event in which he sacrifices everything he has and everything he is for Dean “WITHOUT HOPE THAT [HIS] ACTION[S] WILL DO [HIM] ANY GOOD WHATSOEVER” (https://stevenpressfield.com/2017/01/love-story-cheat-sheetobligatory-scenes/).

  


**6\. The Lovers Reunite**

This is the only part of the love story that doesn’t happen until season 5. Castiel is resurrected, presumably by God himself. When Zachariah threatens to torture Dean and Sam until Dean agrees to be Michael’s vessel, Castiel appears and easily dispatches two of his angel brothers, and threatens Zachariah until he leaves.

It’s interesting because while he was appalled in season 4 that Uriel was killing his own kind, Castiel suddenly seems to have no qualms about killing two other angels to save the Winchesters. He even carves Enochian sigils into their ribs to hide them from all the angels. His loyalties are clear and even though he’s as flighty as before, disappearing practically mid-conversation, we know he’s in alliance with Dean (and Sam).

On top of all of this, Castiel is feeling righteous and vindicated in his choice to side with Dean at the end of season 4. Not only has he gained Dean’s affection (before he even knows the angel is alive again, he refers to him as “my friend Cas”), but he still has the love of God, evidenced by the fact that he’s the only one that could have resurrected Castiel.

So technically, the mini-arch of their love story has a happy ending. Dean and Castiel are reunited, decide to “be together,” Castiel has God’s approval, and as season 5 progresses, it becomes clear that he and Dean have great affection for one another.

  


**CONVENTIONS**

**1\. The Rival**

The competing force for Castiel’s affections is “Heaven.” Is he loyal to heaven and his angel brothers and sisters? Or does he choose loyalty to Dean and humanity? (I’m using the word “loyalty” here but it can be just as easily substituted with “love.”)

Throughout the season, Castiel vacillates between these two in the same way a person in a long-term relationship who doesn’t want to admit that it’s falling apart, is presented with a new relationship that challenges his happiness in that old relationship.

  


**2\. Moral Weight**

This one is interesting because while Castiel obviously has an internal worldview shift from the beginning of the season to the end, Dean doesn’t. (I would argue in fact that Dean and Sam have no or very little internal shifts through the entirety of the series and are basically the same people from beginning to end, just with more experience, but that is a whole other can of worms.)

“Love requires self-reflection and change. Sweet talk and roses mean nothing without moral elevation.” (https://stevenpressfield.com/2017/02/15440/)

Castiel reflects on himself and his actions, on the actions of all the angels, and finds them morally wanting by the end of the season. In order to show his love/loyalty for Dean, he has to change his actions, and so, he rebels against heaven, chooses his own path and decides that he’s not going to break a few eggs (i.e. sacrifice a significant portion of humanity) to make this apocalypse omelet.

  


**3\. Helpers**  
Anna, Sam, “Humanity”

  


**4\. Hinderers**  
Uriel, Zachariah, “Heaven”

  


**5\. Gender Divide**

This convention is interesting because even though it’s called “gender divide,” the explanation is “Distinct differences in the ways the two lovers view love and its responsibilities must be in play.” (https://stevenpressfield.com/2017/02/15440/) So, this convention can be more easily explained by the type of creature they each are and what’s in their nature/culture as that particular type of being.

Castiel is an angel and angels do not separate love and loyalty. They are one and the same. Whoever they are loyal to, that is who they love and Castiel is no exception. Castiel chooses loyalty to Dean, therefore he chooses love for Dean. This is alluded to as affection in season 4 but as we see more of the angels in future episodes, we learn more about their nature. In 6.03, the angels are in the midst of a civil war following the averted apocalypse. There’s an exchange where Castiel reluctantly kills an angel loyal to Raphael’s faction, saying exasperatedly, “Why won't any of you listen?” Raphael then appears, grabs Castiel from behind and says, “They don't listen, Castiel, because their hearts are mine.” Those angels are loyal to Raphael and so, they love him, their “hearts” belong to him. This makes them blind to thinking for themselves and so, they express love as blind loyalty, unquestioning devotion.

Dean also views love and loyalty as closely connected. However, he favors the kind of love that is sacrifice for his family and for what’s right, regardless of what kind of larger fallout that may entail.

To say it another way, Dean and Castiel’s views of love and morality are closely tied to how each would answer the “trolley dilemma” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem). You have to choose between actively killing one person to save many or passively allowing many people to die because active killing is morally reprehensible. Castiel would probably choose the former, while Dean would choose the latter.

  


**6\. External Need**

This is described as one or both having “external pressures on them to find a mate quickly” (https://stevenpressfield.com/2017/02/15440/) and while that seems like it would be difficult or even weird to fulfill, I think we can point to the pressure on Castiel to choose a side (tick, tock, apocalypse) as fulfilling this convention.

  


**7\. Forces at Play Beyond the Couple’s Control**

This can easily be the forces of heaven. Castiel admits (4.16), “They don’t tell me much.” And on top of that, it seems he’s not always allowed to tell Dean much, or even the whole truth when he is.

  


**8\. Forces at Play In the Couple’s Control**

As this goes hand in hand with the “moral weight convention,” Castiel needs to change his worldview before he’s (potentially) rewarded with Dean’s love/affection/loyalty/trust.

  


**9\. Rituals**

They speak alone to each other. They confide in each other. They express their doubts and fears to one another. Castiel will often appear only to Dean and will come alone. Before he even meets Sam, Castiel appears to Dean three times.

Also, there is something to be said of the content of their conversations. Castiel and Dean often question each other on what is right. Most of their deeper conversations cover some subject of morality.

  


**10\. Secrets**

**_Secrets society keeps from them._** Heaven kept it secret, even from Castiel, that they were allowing the apocalypse to happen. We can assume that is what Castiel wanted to tell Dean before he was forcibly “reeducated” towards the end (4.20) of the season.

 ** _Secrets the couple keep from society._** Firstly when Castiel confesses (4.07), “I have questions, I have doubts.” and asks Dean “not to tell another soul.” When Dean asks Uriel to leave (4.16) so he can talk to Castiel alone. When Castiel tries to secretly rendezvous (4.20) with Dean to warn him but is thwarted.

 ** _Secrets they keep from one another._** Castiel keeps a lot of secrets from Dean, mostly on heaven’s orders.

 ** _Secrets one of the couple keeps from himself/herself._** This would basically be lies that one of them tells him/herself. Technically, Castiel could be lying to himself that heaven is concerned with the greater good and that’s why he has to side with them. Or that he can’t rebel because that would be bad, even though Dean is telling him it’s the right thing to do.

  


**CONCLUSION and thoughts on the NATURE OF THEIR LOVE**

In conclusion, I believe strongly that the progression of their relationship meets the criteria for the love story genre. Their interactions in season 4 tick all the boxes for conventions and obligatory scenes as evaluated above.

What I’ll continue to say here is not part of the story grid evaluation...

What I found really interesting as I wrote all of this out is that the pressure and the internal shifts occurred with Castiel and not with Dean. Dean starts off the season with a very strong worldview and he ends the season with the same worldview, so he hasn’t actually sacrificed or changed much in order to support his relationship with Castiel. Rather, it’s Castiel who has sacrificed and changed in order to forge a relationship with Dean. So, what does this mean exactly?

Personally, I believe that this informs on the level of their love for one another. Dean didn’t have to change much about himself and so, he may not have the same level of devotion that Castiel has to their relationship. Castiel’s sacrifice was absolute, everything he is and everything he had is gone, and what is left? Just, Dean. It doesn’t come up in season 4, but there is the scene in season 5 where Dean is thinking of saying yes to being Michael’s vessel and the tension between him and Castiel builds throughout the episode until Castiel drags him into an alley and beats him senseless in his rage (5.18), demanding from him, “I gave everything for you. And this is what you give to me?”

It makes complete sense that this would happen. Dean was flippant and dismissive about Castiel’s growing anger throughout the episode, never really understanding what kind of betrayal he was contemplating. This is because Dean doesn’t reciprocate the same level of love/devotion for Castiel because Dean didn’t have to sacrifice anything for him. Or, to be completely blunt, Castiel loves Dean more than Dean loves Castiel.

Another thing to consider is the nature of their love for one another. I say that this is a love story, but it’s neither romantic nor sexual in nature, and it doesn’t need to be. (It’s unclear whether that’s even a type of love that Castiel would pursue given that he admits (5.03) he’s never been intimate with anyone, angel or otherwise.) It’s deeper than the love of friendship to be sure, but Dean and Castiel are not what I’d consider in love with one another. So what kind of love is it exactly?

For Dean, it’s likely the love of a “brother in arms.” He calls Castiel his friend and is very familiar with him in the way he speaks to and goads the angel. He knows that Castiel made a sacrifice for him even if he doesn’t fully appreciate the extent of that sacrifice. As the seasons progress and they have their ups and downs, that love progresses to the love of family. However, it’s important to note here that Dean doesn’t and may never, love Castiel as much as he loves Sam. Put in a position where he would have to choose between the two, he would choose Sam every time, and Castiel would understand that, which is actually kind of tragic considering the following.

For Castiel, the nature of his love for Dean is much deeper and more complicated and is informed by his existence as an angel. As stated above, for angels in the Supernatural world, love and loyalty are synonymous. When he rebelled, Castiel essentially rejected heaven and, by extension, God. When he and Dean pop in on Chuck and Castiel stays to fight the archangel (4.22), he knows he’s going against the actual word of God. When he chose Dean, that meant that his loyalty, love and unquestioning devotion have been transferred to Dean. Even if Dean wouldn’t outright ask it of him, Castiel would die for him, and subsequently does. This is what Castiel is referring to when he later says that he and Dean “share a more profound bond” (6.03).

It’s tragic because the depth of the love Castiel has for Dean can’t be quantified. It’s the depth of love he once had for God. Dean doesn’t and probably can’t ever, reciprocate that love because it’s not in his nature as a human being. The closest Dean feels to it is the love he has for his brother, Sam. 

Really, it’s a damn good thing that Castiel died at the end of season 4 and was resurrected by God because it proved to him that his love for Dean was actually not a complete rejection of God’s love, but was in fact, supported by God. When we see him again at the beginning of season 5, he is bolstered by that love, which he needs to exist. Halfway through the season, when Castiel learns that God doesn’t want to be found (5.16), that’s when he starts to spiral. It explains very well his violent outburst at Dean (5.18) and even further, his actions in future seasons of the show where he tries to do what he believes is right but just keeps messing it up.

Castiel is one of the most tragic characters in the entire series. He loves someone, basically with the very core of his being, who cannot ever fully reciprocate that love, and who furthermore, doesn’t realize the depth of influence that they have over him. All of this made worse by the fact that other characters, including Dean, pick up on this and mock him for it.

  


**_(The evaluation below jumps ahead, with spoilers for season 14)_**

It takes Castiel a good long while to come to terms with this existence and what it means for him. He needs to accept a more human kind of love, love that spans across multiple relationships, in order to get himself to a place where he can function. So, he extends the sphere of his love to include Sam and other people that Dean also cares about. Then of course, there’s Jack, who chooses him as a surrogate father even before he’s born. This seems to stabilize him over time. 

But is it ever truly enough? When Castiel makes the deal with The Empty to spare Jack (14.08), it seems to be horribly foreboding, but will Castiel ever really be happy? The Empty specifies that it will take him when he “allow[s himself] to be happy” which leaves the audience to wonder what exactly “happy” even means to Castiel and if that’s something he’s capable of feeling anymore or if he’s just resolved himself to always be in a state of wanting. In the same episode, when Jack questions Castiel about it, he says he doesn’t see it happening any time soon (subtext: or at all?) stating, “This life may be a lot of things, but it's rarely happy.”

A little later in the season when Dean is planning to bury himself (and Michael) at sea (14.12), Castiel confronts him about it, but gone is the zealous angel who once dragged him into an alley to beat out his frustrations. His reaction has been tempered with time, personal growth and acceptance of Dean’s limitations. Instead, he parrots back the lessons he’s learned from the human, no matter how painful they may have been. It may have been subtle and it may have been sad, but it was a turning point nonetheless.

  


**Author's Note:**

> Whew! So that's it, my whole evaluation. I don't know if anyone will actually read this whole thing or even find it interesting, but if you do, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Lastly, I know I had some harsh things to say about Dean here, but I was trying to be as objective as possible. There are many reasons to love him as a character, but like all the characters on the show, he has his fundamental flaws and that's part of the reason why we watch isn't it?


End file.
